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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835728">A Girl and Her Warframe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rush_Toward/pseuds/Rush_Toward'>Rush_Toward</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warframe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Age Difference, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Body Horror, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Objectification, F/M, Female Operator - Freeform, First Time, Floor Sex, Human/Monster Romance, Loss of Virginity, Mental Breakdown, Mind Control Aftermath &amp; Recovery, Mind Meld, Muteness, Non-con to Con, Older Man/Younger Woman, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Penis In Vagina Sex, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Reconditioning, Smut, Telepathic Bond, Vaginal Sex, Warframe Spoilers, mute character, rape is only in first chapter, spoilers for The Sacrifice questline, teenage Operator</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:54:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,835</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rush_Toward/pseuds/Rush_Toward</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She definitely never imagined that within the lonely confines of her personal ship, her introduction to sexual intercourse would be at the behest of an angry, cognizant Warframe.<br/><br/>(A retelling of The Sacrifice and subsequent quest lines, with romantic and erotic elements.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cephalon Ordis &amp; Operator, Excalibur Umbra/Operator</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>131</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Girl and Her Warframe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If you've not played or watched a playthrough of The Sacrifice questline, some parts of this fic might be confusing or unclear. I did my best to cover events without just straight-up transcribing them, haha. Of course, the quest is only 30-90 minutes long, so if you like Warframe, go check it out!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Chapter 1: In which events of The Sacrifice play out a little bit differently.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Star-Child,” repeated Vitruvian Ordis in a tone carrying a hint of impatience. “You must weaken that Warframe with your Void Blast before using Transference on it. Otherwise, it will continue to reject your attempts at control.”</p><p>The Operator grimaced frustratedly. “I know, I know, but I’m just not able to do anything fast enough! The damage output of this Amp is so low that this feels like going up against a Bombard with a fly swatter!”</p><p>Much like the last time they’d clashed, the Excalibur Umbra’s fighting style was absolutely ruthless, brutal and swift. Every time she tried exiting her Frost to engage him directly, the feral Warframe unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of slashes into her simulated flesh, staggering her into uselessness and destroying her instantly. When her projected self got kicked back into Frost, Umbra redirected his fury onto the other Warframe instead, targeting it with a ferocious, unrelenting stream of attacks. If she weren’t careful, there was a real danger that Umbra would kill her Warframe, and she had no squadmates to rescue her here.</p><p>This was nothing like their encounter on Ceres. Umbra had since recovered the use of his regenerating shields, which proved to be a <em> significant </em> hindrance in her efforts to apprehend him. After several such failed attempts, and having made use of both energy and health restores, she was finally willing to admit defeat, at least for now.</p><p>“This isn’t working. Ordis, I’m aborting the mission.” As fast as she could make him, Frost performed a nimble backwards handspring before bullet-jumping far away from the rogue Warframe.</p><p>“But your objective has yet to be completed.”</p><p>“That’s why I said ‘aborting’ instead of ‘extracting’, now hurry up and get me out of here!”</p><p>“Calm yourself, Star-Child. The Landing Craft began moving into position from the moment you gave the order.”</p><p>Enclosed within the Somatic Link in her ship’s Transference chamber, the teenager grit her teeth with chagrin and mentally urged Frost to move faster, vaulting over stairs, railings, and steel walkways while eluding the occasional lingering Sentient drone. “Then why even argue with me about it?!”</p><p>Bloodstained victims of Umbra’s rampage littered the facility’s halls, but she paid no mind to the slaughtered Corpus crewmen. Umbra’s screams could still be heard behind her, growing fainter as she ran a reverse course through the lifeless Stanchion warship. Hopefully he wouldn’t bother giving chase.</p><p>“Because,” replied Vitruvian Ordis in his emotionless monotone, “after that Warframe assaulted you in the Orbiter, you still insisted on tracking it down and retrieving it by force. I wanted to confirm that you would not regret this change of plans.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m coming back for him, you can count on that,” she assured the Cephalon. “But first I’ll find a more reliable way of fighting him. With the way things are now, there’s way too huge a difference in power between me and him.”</p><p>“That is to be expected. A Warframe is an advanced weapons system, and you are only human.”</p><p>She set her jaw grimly. “Not just any human. I’m a Tenno, and I’m not going to let a little setback like this stop me. He’s the only clue we have for finding the Lotus.”</p><p>It was a relief when her Liset finally reached the tranquil seclusion of the Void and docked onto the main body of the Orbiter. She walked Frost down the ramp into the ship proper and returned him to the Arsenal for cleaning and repairs. That done, she tapped a button on the armrest of her Somatic Link to raise its shield and look out into the empty expanse of the Transference chamber.</p><p>“My head hurts,” she mumbled, exiting the pod with a despondent frown. Stretching her stiff muscles with every step, the teen heaved a weary sigh. “Actually scratch that, my everything hurts. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything so physical. At the very least, I guess I gotta work on my stamina if I want to keep up with a Warframe.”</p><p>“Perhaps you should consider finally committing to the development of your Focus abilities. Mastering the Tenno Schools may be integral to the success of this endeavor.”</p><p>She groaned but didn’t debate the subject, knowing that the Cephalon was probably right. She’d been putting off everything to do with Focus, and it seemed that negligence was now biting her in the ass. From what she knew thanks to fellow Tenno as well as her own fuzzy memories from the days before cryosleep, it was possible to make one’s self quite a bit faster and more resilient, not to mention learning a whole host of other special, superhuman abilities unique to those with Void powers. Also on the agenda was swapping out her Mote Amp for a proper custom Amp from the Quills. Without a doubt these things would come in handy when facing up against Umbra.</p><p>In the immediate future, however, all she wanted was a few hours to just calm down and unwind a little after the frankly depressing turn her life had taken throughout recent events.</p><p>Stopping at one of the large round panels built into the room’s floor, she prodded it with her foot hopefully. “Ordis, you said the Transference overload from earlier damaged you. What’s the status on that? Are you able to create a hydro-cleansing session for me?”</p><p>“Ship Status: Life support and engine functions confirmed for fully operational. Plumbing and heating systems are in working order. Your query returns a positive result. However, repairs still continue. Allow me to test vestigial precepts for a moment. Like, ‘caring’.”</p><p>Abruptly and very audibly, all the lights in the ship went out as Ordis rebooted himself, returning just as quickly. When the Cephalon spoke again, she was glad to hear him using the usual, less filtered voice from before the installation of the Vitruvian, although the first few words were a broken, intense staccato.</p><p>“Oooperat-<b>t-t-t-tor-tor-tor</b>—Operator, I think you-you sh-should give up on trying to recapture that Warframe; he is too dangerous! I’m worried that another encounter with it will result in great harm to you! I beg you to simply forget about it, and search elsewhere for the Lotus’s whereabouts.”</p><p>“Ordis, listen, I’m really tired after today and I don’t feel like talking about this anymore. Just let me take a bath, and then later we can rethink our strategy. Okay?”</p><p>Instead of the usual verbal compliance she expected, the Cephalon suddenly shouted in alarm. “Operator, watch out!”</p><p>“What?!” The teen whirled around in time to glimpse a dark shape lunging right at her, then found herself knocked flat onto her back, her suit’s hood doing very little to cushion the impact of her head colliding sharply with the floor. Winded, she coughed weakly and blinked away the stars swirling in her vision. Above her loomed none other than Umbra, somehow looking utterly pissed despite the absence of any visible facial features.</p><p>“H-how did he get in here?!” she cried in shock, attempting to scramble backwards to put a bit of distance between herself and the Warframe, but he seized her by the bicep, all five fingers encircling like thick bands of steel.</p><p>Ordis sounded just as panicked as she felt. “He must have followed us somehow! My sensors didn’t detect him at all, not until he was already inside! Run, Operator, get out of there!”</p><p>Running wasn’t an option, even if she could free herself from his unshakable grasp. The Orbiter just wasn’t that large and contained very few places where one could hide.</p><p>“What do you want?” she yelled at the rogue Warframe, knowing she wouldn’t receive an answer. With her free arm, she reached out to him, intending to attempt Transference again. But he captured her slender wrist in an equally punishing grip, squeezing until she gasped, the crushing pain eclipsing all rational thought.</p><p>“Get away from the Operator, you monster!” Ordis demanded. His frightened voice induced an unsettling clarity that instantly crystallized her present circumstances.</p><p>There was no one here to help her. Ordis possessed no internal defense mechanisms whatsoever, meaning he had no way to drive out an enemy from within. She could possibly fight Umbra using one of her other Warframes, but there was almost no doubt that such a battle would critically damage the ship.</p><p>“What do you want…?!” she whispered again, desperately. The Orbiter, forever cruising through the normally untraversable recesses of the Void, was the only place she could call her home, and there were few things that better upended that sense of security than an unfriendly Warframe intruding without warning. How was she supposed to handle this??</p><p>The pressure on her wrist lessened to a tolerable level, and she took that moment to shift herself into the void plane, phasing out of his grasp and swiftly dashing away to one side of the room, exiting at the end of the jump. Void Mode was not a state of being that she could maintain indefinitely, and she already knew better than to let precious energy go to waste. Their clash on Neptune had taught her the hard way that Umbra’s attacks bypassed her immunity as though it weren’t even there, meaning she couldn’t use it to stall for time.</p><p>If nothing else, she had to make sure that no harm came to the Somatic Link. Without it, her ability to sync remotely to her Warframes would be lost. The paramount objective was to remove Umbra from the Orbiter, but her options were hopelessly limited and there was precious little time to formulate a plan; Umbra hadn’t lost track of her for even an instant, his horned helmet immediately turning in the direction she’d jumped. The teen’s heart hammered in her chest as she prepared to initiate a follow-up dash at a moment’s notice.</p><p>Could she possibly lure him back into the Landing Craft and have Ordis launch it away from the main ship? Cutting off the tail to survive was a valid short-term strategy, and she did own a secondary Landing Craft variant in one of the Orbiter’s rear bays. What she lacked was confidence that it could be so easy, not when Umbra’s speed largely surpassed her own.</p><p>And to demonstrate as much, the rogue Warframe decided to charge her again using an ability she recognized all too well from her early days piloting Excalibur. Before the gap between them could close, she quickly Void Dashed to avoid his strike, but Umbra countered with a whirling feint, catching her in mid-air with a swipe at her spectral form. The back-handed blow collided with her temple, knocking her into the material plane and sending her careening down to the floor again. Her Oculus flew off and skittered across the room.</p><p>Vulnerably corporeal once more and lacking the wherewithal to avoid Umbra’s next lunge, she had hardly even begun getting back to her feet before he grabbed her by the throat (and wasn’t <em> that </em> becoming a familiar scenario, first with the Shadow Stalker and now this), and hurled her back to the ground.</p><p>“Ordis!” she shouted, as if raising the volume of her voice could grant her any control over the situation. “Fly us to Europa and find somewhere to land!”</p><p>“What?!” protested the terrified Cephalon. “Operator, that idea is too risky to even consider! The Orbiter must always remain hidden in the Void so that our enemies cannot find it!”</p><p>“Just—!” She couldn’t finish her line, as Umbra let out a furious howl accompanied by a blinding burst of light. The Operator cried out, reeling, her vision flooded with scalding-hot white that eroded into a throbbing, murky darkness. Gasping in shock, it took her several seconds of frantic blinking to realize that her eyes were in fact still open, and she dug the heels of her hands into the sockets, rubbing at them until the blackness started to ebb into a drunken blur that finally sharpened back to normal.</p><p>She was greeted by the sight of Umbra crouching directly in front of her.</p><p>With two swift movements he wrenched her wrists away from her face and up over her head, then drove his Nikana through the sleeves and hood of her suit so fast that her brain actually needed a moment to process what had just happened. By then it was too late; although she tried to pull her arms free, the sword held strong, anchored firmly into the floor of the ship.</p><p>“Oh no! Operator!”</p><p><em> Oh no is right. </em> That sentiment perfectly summed up this latest development. The angle of Umbra’s blade was such that its cutting edge hovered dangerously over one wrist, threatening to bite into the delicate flesh if she moved wrong.</p><p>The teen shrunk back against the cold floor in fear as he suddenly leaned in very close, seeming to sniff, animal-like, his face mere inches apart from hers. Although Umbra was not nearly the biggest Warframe she knew of, he still seemed to tower over her, filling the whole of her vision as he further invaded her personal space. There was an intense heat rolling off of him, an inferno that was so unlike the chilling, suffocating aura exuded by the Shadow Stalker. Anger poured from Umbra in waves, licking at her exposed skin like a solar flare, and she felt beads of perspiration trickle down her temples, sticking strands of blonde hair to her flushed cheeks. The threat of being incinerated by that heat was real.</p><p>Catching her breath, she made one final bid for escape, slipping into Void Mode again, but exhaustion resulted in popping back out almost instantly. Her energy regeneration was sluggish now, and trying to move her arms accomplished little; she could not free her clothing from the sword. Ordinarily, the suit synchronized with her void abilities, but apparently the fine threads lost this function once severed, and to pass through inorganic solids wasn’t possible. The thick fabric of her Transference suit—designed to regulate body temperature, protect her from injury, and maintain external hygiene—now acted as restraints.</p><p>Her heels scrabbled at the smooth flooring seeking purchase, until Umbra placed a hand on her bent knee and shoved it aside, situating himself between her legs and kneeling purposefully. Eyes growing wide, she attempted to kick him away, but the Warframe simply forced her thighs back down so that she loosely straddled his waist. Their bodies were not touching, but until he decided to move she could not close her legs. Outmuscled and immobilized, she let out a frustrated cry at her own helplessness. Umbra responded with a low snarl from deep in his throat, the Infestation-mutated vocal cords producing a palpitating, utterly inhuman growl like some huge predatory beast. It made her hair stand on end.</p><p>The strangest part was that he wasn’t trying to kill her yet. She couldn’t understand it. For a brief, insane moment she considered that someone was piloting Umbra, and she was that person’s capture target. But no, there was nothing about this Warframe that gave off the impression that it was being controlled by a third party. Umbra was the very antithesis of ‘control’—wild and unpredictable, as shown by her current predicament.</p><p>Then why was this happening? What could a Warframe possibly want? The smooth, charcoal surface of his face betrayed nothing; gave her no clue as to what his intentions might be. But still fresh in her mind was the hate-filled glare he’d directed at her with that single milky-white eye before the damaged portion of his helmet had seamlessly regenerated to hide his face from view.</p><p>That recollection followed through into another. During the brief instances that she’d managed to link with this Warframe, she’d seen through his eyes the unfolding of an ominous scene and what must have been a fragment of his past life. Perhaps that insight was the key to tempering Umbra’s wrath.</p><p>“I… can help you…” she stammered, imploring. It sounded ridiculous to her ears. She wasn’t even able to help herself, trapped as she was like a butterfly pinned in a specimen box. “S-something bad happened to you. Someone hurt you, but I —!”</p><p>Umbra pulled away and howled furiously, shoulders thrown back and fingers grasping at nothing. Cringing, she squeezed her eyes shut fearfully as the screaming continued. Then as unexpectedly as he’d started, the Warframe fell silent, one powerful hand swatting at the air as if to banish some phantom enemy. He turned back in her direction, fists clenching audibly, and she braced herself for physical retaliation.</p><p>He reached out, one open palm pressing flat against her tense abdomen, and she quivered in nervous trepidation. But rather than eviscerating her, that sinewy hand dragged southward, pausing over the juncture of her thighs. The heat radiating from his hand was incredible; she could feel it so clearly even through the layers of her suit, and the menacing intent accompanying it drove her panic to further heights.</p><p>“What… are you—” she stammered, despite knowing that Warframes could not speak. She got her answer anyway in the form of Umbra ripping open the crotch of her leggings with a single brutal yank. Ordis shouted in protest, and she cried out with him as the attack grazed her bare skin, leaving behind stinging welts where his powerful fingertips had carved into the flesh. The tough, Orokin-age material didn’t stand a chance against a Warframe’s strength, and the result was a hole large enough to dispel any doubts as to where this was headed.</p><p>Thus, she resumed her desperate squirming, tugging at her shackled arms, yet it proved just as fruitless as before. The skin where he’d scratched her throbbed, but she dared not look to check for bleeding, unable to tear her eyes away as he reached down again, this time sweeping aside the ornamental drapery that hung from his waist and grabbing at his own groin, fingers gouging into the simple section of armor covering the area. With a harsh growl he dug inward, and there came a sound of something dislocating wetly, before he wrenched the flexible plate clear off his body, throwing it savagely away. Gleaming red blood—his own—coated the tips of his fingers and ran in thin trails down his inner thighs, a scant few drops pattering to the floor.</p><p>The Operator watched in horrified disbelief. “Oh…” she uttered quietly; the sound of a person who knows that something terrible is about to happen, and that there is nothing they can do to stop it.</p><p>Barely hidden behind the grey bolt of cloth was something that caused it to tent up conspicuously. Perhaps more unsettling was that it was also moving, as evidenced by the small rippling undulations of the hanging fabric, framed between her own splayed legs. Whatever it was wouldn’t remain a mystery for long, as without further preamble Umbra shifted his weight onto his knees and flung the ragged strip of finery over one hip, letting it trail behind him.</p><p>Ordis began babbling frantically, sounding as appalled as she felt. “What is he doing? What is the meaning of this? He couldn’t possibly— Warframes don’t—!”</p><p>“Ordis!” The Operator recoiled as much as her position would allow, doing her best to not touch Umbra in any way. “Please call for help!”</p><p>“Who should I call?!”</p><p>“Another Tenno! Anyone!”</p><p>“But I do not have a way of contacting the other Tenno directly! Coordinating your peers was the job of the Lotus, and she is no longer—”</p><p>His words faded into indiscernible white noise as the teen stared uncomprehendingly at the newly unveiled appendage extending from the Warframe’s pelvis. Logically she knew what it was, of course. Warframes were alive; they breathed, they sensed, they bled and died, and while each Warframe was wholly unique unto itself, they were still recognizably human before anything else. Umbra was male, and thus had male genitalia. This was her first time seeing it in real life, but despite her complete lack of experience she still could tell that Umbra didn’t match the anatomical diagrams she’d studied as part of her formal education.</p><p>A typical human penis should be… smooth.</p><p>Although lacking the stratified armored plating and gilded metal projections typically found on Warframes, this strange phallus was nonetheless intimidatingly rugged and of a size that was frightening to behold. The dark coloration was interspersed by meandrous streaks of ashy grey, banded from root to crown by a myriad of subtle grooves and not-at-all-subtle ridges. The whole thing looked like it was straining fitfully; a match to the rest of him.</p><p>For a moment she was too stunned to even react, until Umbra laid hands on her again, lifting her lower half off the floor and dragging her closer. Then her struggles began anew.</p><p>“Stop!” she shouted, successfully kicking him in the head a few times before he growled and caught her leg, keeping it pinned effortlessly under his elbow. “Let me go!” She flinched as she felt the thumb of one masculine hand reach across the frayed tear in her suit and press inward to the valley of her bare sex, prying at the soft folds to expose her opening.</p><p>He raised her hips up, aligning her sex to his, and her breathing became frantic as the brief brush of cool air on her most private place was replaced with the warm tip of his twitching member.</p><p>“Don’t! Please don’t!” Her feet fluttered helplessly behind him. She yanked fruitlessly at her sleeves, but they barely budged.</p><p>Her protestations fell on deaf ears. Umbra nudged against her slit, and with all the same finesse and surgical precision that he exhibited in wielding a blade, he speared into her unwilling body with one swift thrust.</p><p>The Operator’s eyes flew open wide, every muscle seizing up in agony at the unbearable stretch, her spine arching in a reflexive but ultimately futile attempt to pull off the hard flesh cruelly invading her body. The fullness was excruciating; her inexperienced vagina spasming from being forced to accommodate something much too large. Umbra’s size was such that he had bottomed out even before fully sheathed, his broad cockhead bashing against the end of her canal with the force of a punch. Though her mouth hung open as if to scream, not so much as a peep came out.</p><p>The moment seemed to last forever, during which her vision went fuzzy and dim around the edges, dark spots swimming around the periphery to form strange amoeba-like shapes. Her toes curled tightly in their shoes as she rode out the debilitating pain, powerless to do anything else. Just when she began to feel light-headed as if she might faint, he drew back out, and the harsh drag on her inner walls wrenched her from a dazed state into full alertness once more. The receding pressure and subsequent emptiness brought her no relief, as it was accompanied by the sting of microscopic wounds being further abraded. Just as quickly, he was back inside, thick shaft grinding against her chafed walls, and she belatedly realized that awful as the initial entry had been, her torment was only beginning.</p><p>“Nhg... a-ahhg… hahn!” Little pained noises escaped her throat in time with his thrusts. Completely dry from fear and lack of any preparation, even the smallest motion was pure torture. Umbra was unstoppable, forcing his way in and through, impaling her over and over in a steady and uncompromising rhythm. She could hardly breathe, feeling like all the air was being pushed out of her lungs. Punishing thrusts roughly jolted her body around, rocking her into the unforgiving floor. Each stroke pushed increasingly deeper, until the point came where his hips started making contact with the backs of her thighs, her aching pussy crammed full of everything the Warframe had to offer. Umbra began to speed up with an animalistic intensity, his hold on her hips practically unbreakable, as if he would never let go.</p><p>“No, no—I cannot believe what I am seeing!” cried Ordis shrilly. “This has to be a nightmare!”</p><p>“D-don’t watch, Ordis!” she wailed, tears springing from her eyes and trailing wetly down the sides of her face to soak into her hair. The Cephalon was her constant companion on the Orbiter and had on plenty of occasions seen her in states of undress, but her defloration was a different matter entirely. “Don’t look at me like this!”</p><p>“Is that... an order, Operator? I... can disable my sensors, should you command it,” he tentatively volunteered, voice oddly hollow.</p><p>If Cephalons could weep, Ordis surely would be doing so, and that thought only worsened her personal turmoil. She was overwhelmed with an intense shame and self-loathing for her own impotence, balling her hands into fists, the short nails biting into her palms. How could she have let this happen? It hurt, it was violating, but the greatest injury of all was to her pride as a Tenno warrior. A heavy lump formed in her throat, making it difficult to reply.</p><p>“No... no, don’t leave me, Ordis! Please!”</p><p>She had lost completely, and it was all due to her own personal failings—her hubris and her indolence. As a Tenno, she should have known better than anyone that Warframes were not to be treated lightly or underestimated. Their individual strength was that of an entire army encapsulated into a single being.</p><p>Although she was gradually yielding more easily to the fierce intrusion, Umbra gave her no reprieve and no time to acclimate, his penis bullying its way repeatedly through to her most private place, dragging wretched groans out of her. And <em> god </em>, she thought miserably, this sort of thing was normally supposed to feel good, right? Then why did it hurt so bad? Just because he was a Warframe? She felt split open, and knew that realistically she was probably torn down there. Umbra’s jagged ridges kept catching on her labia and the pulsing ring of her taut opening, the irregular texture of his shaft brutalizing the delicate membranes, making them puffy and sore.</p><p>It wasn’t like being shot with a rifle, nor seared by lasers and flamethrowers, nor being gassed with poison or hacked at with cleavers. Even accounting for the fact that Warframes possessed a superhuman tolerance for pain, their Operators still shared that experience as if everything were happening to their very own flesh, and so she was accustomed to the discomfort of battle wounds. Usually pain only motivated her to fight harder, but this merciless invasion of her most intimate place and the constant stabbing into her belly was robbing her of what little strength she had remaining. Trying to regulate the pain, she spurred herself into doing some breathing exercises like she’d been taught during her training under the command of the Orokin Empire, but it barely helped when the attacks only kept coming.</p><p>Defeated, she ceased her struggles and fell limp beneath him. Exhaustion left the teen unable to do anything besides watch the rippling of Umbra’s muscular body as he breached her depths and made her feel every inch of it. The tattered fringe of his scarf pooled onto her chest, swaying to and fro with his movements. Teal light shone from the numerous glowing nodes dotting his arms and sides, flaring brighter in time with his heavy breathing while excess energy vented off into the air, curling like smoke before dissipating, as if he burned with some eternal, barely-contained inner fire. In stark contrast to her own quavering vocal breaths and erratic gasps, the Warframe was largely silent save for the occasional low growl.</p><p>Did this even feel good for him? He moved like a well-oiled machine, showing no sign of stopping, and with little indication that he had any purpose in mind beyond continuing to plough into her. It was like he was reshaping her, forcing her body to conform to his. She trembled in apprehension of what he might do to her once he finally finished, assuming he even <em> would </em>. Unlike regular humans, Warframes didn’t experience metabolic fatigue. For all she knew this could go on in perpetuity.</p><p>Sex was not a subject that she’d ever spent much time contemplating. Some of the older kids knew about it, but it certainly had no place in their combat training for the ongoing war against the Sentients, and neither did Margulis nor her assistants speak to them about human reproduction and sexuality. The Archimedean treated the Tenno like children, not that any of them had particularly minded; her motherly affection was a soothing oasis, a sanctuary from the rest of the world who regarded them as monsters. If not for Margulis’s influence, the Tenno themselves would perhaps have come to believe the same.</p><p>Raised as soldiers, the living swords and shields of the Orokin Empire, they all lived solitary and isolated lives, communicating primarily though virtual transmissions and encrypted text messages. Prolonged exposure to a Tenno was dangerous for other living creatures, especially in the case of members with underdeveloped control over their Void powers. Consequently, she herself never harbored the dream of starting a family. Such a domestic existence ceased to be an option from the moment she’d even set foot on the Zariman Ten Zero as a young child.</p><p>And she definitely never imagined that within the lonely confines of her personal ship, her introduction to sexual intercourse would be at the behest of an angry, cognizant Warframe.</p><p>Ordis’s voice cut through her addled introspection. “Oh stars, what can I do? The Operator—the Operator needs help! At this rate, she could be—<b>MuRDerED</b>. No! I won’t just stand idly by and allow that to happen! <b>DoN’t leAve mE ALonE agAIn</b>. I’d rather self-destruct first, and go together!”</p><p>“Ordis, stop!” The Operator fought to raise her head, hands squirming in their bonds. She had to prevent the psychologically fragile Cephalon from enacting such an irreversible, last-ditch plan of action. Nothing was over yet. “Absolutely do not—AUGH!!”</p><p>Her sudden shouting must have provoked Umbra, who roared thunderously and shoved her knees to either side of her chest, holding them in place with vindictive ferocity as he speared into her more deeply. Temporarily blinded by the brilliant eruption of light that followed his scream, she could only grit her teeth to bite back whimpers of pain at the abrupt change of position and rapid-fire pace, barely winning against herself in an effort to not sob out loud.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Ordis…” she choked out thickly, the apology genuine. “This is all my fault.”</p><p>“Operator,” Sounding more lucid now, the Cephalon spoke to her again, gently and sorrowfully. “Ordis has and will always think the world of you. Nothing can ever change that, and I promise you that no matter what happens, I will be with you until the very end.”</p><p>Leftover tears clumped up her long eyelashes, blurring her vision. Sniffling, she rubbed the sides of her face on either shoulder to wipe them dry, trying to get her head straight.</p><p>What a mess she had created. Ordis seemed convinced that her life was reaching its final moments. If ever there were a time for indulging in self-pity, it certainly wasn’t right now. She was the Operator; the sole commander of this ship and the Cephalon who occupied it, as well as all her animal companions and the dozens of Warframes resting on board. There were innumerable people and Syndicates spanning the breadth of the Origin System whose future existence hinged upon her continual intervention on their behalves. As a Tenno warrior, so long as she still drew breath, she had a duty to fight.</p><p>But that was so much easier said than done. It was difficult to focus while that inhuman cock was tirelessly roughing up her insides. The molten heat that had surrounded her this entire time was now within her as well, the friction of Umbra’s pistoning movements building it up to greater levels. Every jab into her soft pelvic cavity pummeled her poor cervix, jarring her thoughts askew before she’d even finished collecting them.</p><p>More cerebral in nature was the fact that she’d been deprived of the use of her hands. Void attacks were definitely out of the question, but perhaps performing Transference was still possible even in her current position? Yes, she could do this; Transference defined the Tenno—was part of her very identity—and the loss of one or both hands didn’t change that. Umbra was distracted and in no state to resist, shields or no shields. She just had to concentrate…</p><p>Focusing on the multiple points of physical contact they shared, the Operator established a link between herself and the Warframe. Like flying and falling at the same time, she tumbled into his consciousness again, the tortured screams of Umbra’s psyche reverberating in her mind with deafening intensity. Then their thoughts melded as one, and for the third time she witnessed a scene from the past through eyes that were not her own.</p><p>Something had changed.</p><p>The pain of her violation was gone, replaced with that of every cell in her body shrieking in rebellion against her. Thirty trillion individual burning pinpricks, twisting, warping, transforming into something new and alien; changing her completely. She felt alternatively scalding hot and shockingly cold; her veins were veritable threads of pain winding through her flesh, and every rattling breath she took felt like it might kill her.</p><p>All around the hospice room were black and red webs of Infested growths, clinging to the floor and strung along the walls, slick and pulsing horribly. She didn't know whether they were real or merely a hallucinatory symptom brought on by the Helminth Infestation, indicative of an ordinary man’s advancing transformation into an immortal tool of war.</p><p>It was a ghastly, living nightmare, but try as she might, she could not wake.</p><p>Sitting comfortably to her left was Ballas, masking his insidious intent with amiable chatter, putting on a show so that her son had no reason to suspect anything was amiss. All the while he communicated directly into her mind via Transference, eyes glowing with an ominous gold light, cheerfully informing her that he had already seen to the deaths of many members of her family, and had plans lined up to ensure that the rest would soon follow, until not a single one remained.</p><p>Every word drove her anger to new heights, and in equal measures came frustration at her own impotence. Ballas had robbed her of the ability to speak; the hinge of her jaw was stiff as if welded shut, her head swathed in layers of medical gauze that reduced her voice to muffled grunts. Thick straps hidden below the sheets criss-crossed her body, restricting her arms and legs at multiple points. Immobilized, the most she could manage was swiveling her eyeballs in their sockets, pleading with Isaah to leave and save himself before it was too late, and knowing fully that he wouldn’t.</p><p>A massive and inexplicable gap in her memory served as a secondary horror to the situation. She couldn’t remember how she had come to be in this hospice nor what she’d been doing immediately before. In fact she could remember nothing at all, nothing except that this pleasantly smiling man seated beside her bed was unbelievably dangerous and determined to take everything from her. She was the only one able to stop him, but if the fact that he currently had her helpless as newborn and at his mercy was any indication, then she had already failed. It wasn't a matter of happenstance that she was caught like a fly in a spider’s web.</p><p>The pain suddenly spiked, elevating to unbearable levels as her vision tinted red. She writhed in agony, unable to do anything except groan wordlessly and endure it. A third dose of Ballas’s special Technocyte reagent, masquerading as healing serum, had finished draining into her system from the crimson IV drip bags, and a fourth hung waiting to do the same. Ballas continued to speak to her where only she could hear, until delivering out loud one last, foreboding line.</p><p>“But all miracles require sacrifice.”</p><p>Then she was back in her real body, laying not in a sickbed but on the bare floor of her own ship, ears ringing loudly as she sucked in big lungfuls of air, adrenaline surging through her veins. Gone was the burning pain that had set every nerve alight with fire just a moment before, leaving only phantom echoes in the background of her consciousness. But still it hurt to breathe; dread filling her chest so sharp and pervasive that it felt like her racing heart would split itself in half.</p><p>“He’s gonna… kill him!” she choked out thickly, struggling ineffectually against the sword that still pinned her arms above her head, desperate to take some preventative action before Ballas could make good on his word. The blade’s honed edge bit into her flesh through the suit’s sleeve, opening up a shallow wound that stained the fabric a dark red, but she hardly even felt it, straining harder, frantic.</p><p>“Him? Who is ‘him’? What are you talking about, Operator? Y-you’re scaring me!” stammered Ordis nervously.</p><p>“My son,” she whispered breathlessly, voice trembling as fresh tears welled up. Even as she said it, the words somehow felt wrong, yet she couldn’t place exactly why. Fear and despair dominated and paralyzed all rationale, muddied and tangled her thoughts until they swam circles in her head.</p><p>Ordis was quick to correct her. “Operator, you do not have a son! Oh my, what is he <em> doing </em> to you? Please, Operator, do not give up! I need you, the System needs you!”</p><p>A trickle of blood streaked down the side of her wrist, wet and ticklish, and she shivered in spite of the sweltering heat. Blinking rapidly, she took deep breaths, the blind panic gradually ebbing away, taking along with it a parental protectiveness that was not truly her own. Awareness returned to her by degrees.</p><p>It had happened again. Instead of her consciousness supplanting the Warframe’s, she was repeatedly assimilating into his mind, completely losing touch with reality, and every time she did, she seemed to be less and less in control. It was just as Ordis—Vitruvian Ordis—had said: the flow was inverted. Umbra’s mind overtook her own, suppressing it, and even after separating there was still a part of him lingering inside her head, disorienting her. Somehow, she needed to reverse this trend of allowing Umbra to override her mental influence.</p><p>She wondered how much time had elapsed while she was engaged in his memories. It struck her as almost surreal just how relieved she was to be back out. The depths of fear and distress from her present circumstances seemed almost insignificant when juxtaposed with reliving Umbra’s past. While more upsetting than any combat injury she’d sustained yet, this forceful penetration didn’t begin to compare to the agony suffered by the Dax soldier in Umbra’s memories. If she survived this encounter she would recover without issue and would still be herself. The same couldn’t be said for whoever Umbra was before his unwilling conversion into a Warframe.</p><p>Dimly, she realized that his continued movements into her now came with much less resistance, and a new wetness had formed between them which eased the burning friction considerably, though the source was a complete mystery to her. Blood, maybe. By now the endorphins had kicked in and the shock of the initial invasion had worn off, leaving only a dull persistent ache. Her vaginal muscles seemed to have finally given up the fight and relaxed enough to accept the rough treatment. While there was still quite a bit of pain from the intrusion, it had faded to something more manageable, going from utterly debilitating to just extremely uncomfortable.</p><p>This was little consolation to the rest of her body however; her shoulder joints creaked in protest from being held above her head for so long, worsened with every merciless thrust jolting her body. The backs of her thighs and buttocks felt tender and bruised from the constant clashing with Umbra’s hips, and his steely fingers dug harshly into the sides of her knees where he kept them pushed up against her chest. The incision on her wrist was stinging now, and the resulting blood had turned unpleasantly cold and tacky.</p><p>As for Umbra himself, he looked more agitated than ever, curling in on himself even as he continued to stab into her deepest recesses. His muscles were knotted up and contorted, body shuddering and limbs jerking irregularly, and from time to time his head would snap to one side or the other as if recoiling away from some unseen assailant.</p><p>The latest foray into Umbra’s memory had convinced her of one thing. This man, this Warframe, was suffering terribly. More to the point, he was not in his right mind. No, more accurate to say his mind was being held hostage, reliving a hellish memory over and over, circling endlessly through the same tragic series of events. Consequently, he was not even fully aware nor in control of his own actions—a prisoner in his own body, twisted with madness and hate.</p><p>It was no wonder that Transference continued to fail. While that awful vision held Umbra in thrall, there was no room in his head for anything else. He had never linked with a Tenno before; had experienced Transference only from Ballas as a method of punishment for his attempted sabotage of the Executor’s schemes. Umbra associated Transference with torture, and she had been trying to force it on him this whole time.</p><p>In that regard, she was hardly any nobler than Ballas, callously seeking out Umbra only to extract from him the codes and coordinates leading to the Lotus’s location. They were both victims of Ballas’s ruthless manipulation and treachery; had both been mutated against their will into something no longer human, lost precious loved ones in the fallout, were terrorized into bending beneath the pitiless heel of the Orokin elite. She and he were on the same side, and from the very start her objective should have been to show him this. That was her mistake.</p><p>...She needed to use Transference again.</p><p>Tuning everything else out, she closed her eyes and tried to open a connection between their minds. Yet this time, she encountered pushback. Apparently it wasn’t possible to take Umbra off-guard twice in a row, because he was now actively rejecting her efforts, raising a wall around his psyche to block her out.</p><p>Just one more hurdle to overcome. Compared to the Elder Queen’s much more sophisticated methods of conquering a Tenno’s mind, this current level of challenge was elementary. Breathing hard, she channeled every ounce of her Void powers into circumventing Umbra’s mental defenses.</p><p>—Only to abort outright when his muscular arm shot forward in one fluid move to wrench out the Nikana binding her wrists to the ship floor and turn the deadly blade in her direction.</p><p>
  <em> StopStopStop </em>
</p><p>Mute with shock, she opened her mouth and then snapped it shut again, eyes wide. All other thoughts were abandoned as she redirected her mental resources into staying his attack.</p><p>
  <em> Stop </em>
</p><p>It wasn’t proper Transference—nowhere near—but it was enough to hold him at bay and stave off certain death. Taking shallow breaths, she dared not tear her gaze away from his helmet’s illuminated optics for even an instant, knowing that the moment her concentration faltered, her head would fly.</p><p>Growling savagely, he bore down upon her with his full weight, left hand latching onto her throat like a living collar. His powerful fingers dug into the soft tissue with enough pressure to impede blood flow, dizzying her. The razor-sharp Nikana ran parallel to the length of her body, its narrow tip tickling the exposed skin of her neck. Despite her hands being liberated at last, she left them laying limp at her sides. Umbra was ridiculously strong, and her meager strength would be of no use against him. This was a battle of wills. With total single-mindedness she fought to ensure that the blade didn’t move even one millimeter closer.</p><p>
  <em> Stop </em>
</p><p>She could feel him straining mightily against the supersensory command echoing in his mind, trying and failing to override the order, to reject her control. Usage of her Void powers in this way was causing her eyes to emanate a supernatural light, which only further incensed Umbra, too characteristically similar to that of the wicked Orokin man whom he was determined to kill. Every passing second that the stalemate dragged further out, Umbra’s breathing grew louder and more agitated. The Nikana was shaking so hard in his grasp that it seemed to be vibrating.</p><p>Then just as abruptly as he’d retrieved his sword, he suddenly threw it aside with a noisy clatter. She had all of one second to be shocked by this unexpected move before Umbra slammed his knuckles heavily into the floor directly beside her head, very nearly grazing her ear. His other hand abandoned her neck to mirror the action on her right side, the impact sending powerful vibrations along her spine and reverberating throughout the entire Orbiter. Screaming demonically, he rained down a series of furious blows over and over to either side. Utterly paralyzed, she could only watch the devastating punches continue to fly, any one of which could pulverize her skull like a melon, becoming more certain each time that the trajectory would change and the next blow would be her last.</p><p>The deafening string of consecutive thuds suddenly halted as the crazed Warframe ceased his assault, rearing back violently and grabbing onto his own head with such force it was a wonder his helmet didn’t crack. The screams he released were so horrible and inhuman, they were unlike any she’d heard in all her life, every lamenting howl an expression of Umbra’s rage, his hatred, and his despair.</p><p>Lost in his frenzy, the barrier he’d erected around his mind shattered completely, leaving him wide open.</p><p>“Operator! Now is your chance—use Transference!”</p><p>With a burst of strength she didn’t know she still had, the Operator surged upright to capture his face in both hands. The connection between them opened instantaneously, and this time she welcomed the inverted Transference, allowing his mind to flow into hers.</p><p>It was time to see where this terrible, eternally cycling memory led to, and put an end to it at last.</p><p>*****</p><p>**********</p><p>*****</p><p>The hospice. Ballas to the left, Isaah to the right. The fourth and final IV bag depleted of its vile contents, cementing the loss of both his humanity and agency. Through the infirm Dax’s eyes she watches herself—an aberration in the nightmare—slowly approach the foot of his bed, hands resting empty and non-threatening at her sides like she’s trying not to frighten a cornered animal.</p><p>They’re at the end now. It’s about to happen again. She knows this because Umbra knows this. Secrets aren’t possible between them here. Their duality is already in place. Filicide and parricide. Warframe and Tenno. The hand and the will.</p><p>“This isn’t your fault,” she tells him.</p><p>He doesn’t believe her.</p><p>“You are a victim here, just as much as your son.”</p><p>There must have been something he could have done differently.</p><p>“Ballas did this, not you.” If saying so made her a hypocrite, then she’d own it. She would justify things for him the way she’d never allowed herself to justify the lives she’d ended on the Zariman Ten Zero. For there to be any hope that Umbra would one day forgive himself, he needed to hear it from someone else first.</p><p>The transformation taking place on a cellular level achieved its completion. His vision tints red again, breathing mutating into choked, heaving, snarling gasps, convulsing uncontrollably. He dreads what’s about to take place; wishes he could die instead, would bite off his own tongue if not for his jaw seemingly rusted shut, but he’s unable to so much as lift a finger unless Ballas does it for him.</p><p>“Our minds are linked now,” she reminds him, clenching her fists resolutely. The reality of it was even worse than she’d expected, but she would be his source of strength for what was to come. “We'll face this together.”</p><p>Ballas casually stands and raises a hand in the air, establishing a link with the Transference bolt implanted in the former Dax, puppeting his movements with practiced ease. <em> “Don't worry, old friend,</em>” the Executor’s deep mental voice resounds through their shared consciousness. <em> “I'm not going to kill your boy…"</em></p><p>“You are.”</p><p>Like tissue paper, the straps binding his limbs snap under his new strength. Isaah’s startled exclamation as he is set upon by the creature who was once his father is the last sound heard before the final vision comes to an end.</p><p>After that there is only silence.</p><p>*****</p><p>**********</p><p>*****</p><p>Free of the memory loop at last, she stood in the dark and lonely abyss of Umbra’s mind. Ethereal and insubstantial, it was a beautiful black and gold wasteland stretching on for infinity, utterly bereft of anything that could possibly connect him to the Dax Soldier he once was.</p><p>Ballas had made very sure of that.</p><p>Gradually, the trauma she’d piggybacked from the experience ran its course, leaving behind a raw, aching emptiness in her chest that compelled her to move forward.</p><p>Her Warframe needed her. She sensed him waiting somewhere in this indistinct, otherworldly landscape. Steadily, she made her way down a long and winding path towards the mindscape’s epicenter and source. Throughout the air meandered haunting echoes of Isaah’s last words to his father, repeating ad infinitum. The stretches of silence in between held a pain so sharp and intense, and a guilt so unbearably heavy, it was crushing to the point of suffocation.</p><p>By the time she reached the end, her heart was swollen full with compassion. Beneath the shimmering boughs of a golden <em> sakura </em> tree, a kneeling figure prostrated himself on the ground, wracked with terrible fits of silent weeping. Approaching the man in measured steps, she made to place a hand on his quaking shoulder, but withdrew it before making contact and instead gently went onto her knees before him, closing her eyes, patient, unhurried, expectant. She did not have to wait long.</p><p>Through a haze of grief Umbra became aware of her presence, unsurprised, recognizing at once the anachronistic interloper, the pretty stranger who kept inviting herself in. With ponderous effort, he pushed himself upright, mirroring her <em>seiza </em> position, and gradually his shuddering, mute sobs slackened and tapered off. Still, his head bowed low as if weighed down by the enormity of his sins. She could feel a profound remorse directed at her; his crippling self-condemnation and anguished regret for what he could not undo.</p><p>Projecting acceptance into their shared mental space, she granted him the forgiveness he dared not ask for. Their souls lay bare before each other, seeking to unite as one. And at long last she felt his readiness to pursue a new future. Their minds linked willingly—mutually—for the first time, and a bond formed between them, one unlike any other connection before.</p><p>“We accept this memory,” she said with finality, “and move beyond its reach.”</p><p>In the next instant, she found herself looking through her own eyes up into the dimness of the Transference chamber’s ceiling. Umbra was slumped between her legs, uncharacteristically quiet and still. If not for the steady rise and fall of his chest, she might wonder if he were even operational.</p><p>“Operator, Operator, are you alright? Oh, what am I saying, of course you are not. This is all my fault. I can't believe that thing came out of my Foundry. It is a miracle that you are still alive! I was so sure that he was going to kill you.”</p><p>“It's no miracle,” she replied numbly. “He really was going to kill me.” <em> And spend the rest of eternity pursuing an impossible revenge. </em></p><p>“How did you manage to stop him??”</p><p>“I just…” she faltered, very tired and feeling as if her next words had to be chased down. “The... first thing he experienced after waking up in the Arsenal was <em> me </em>, attempting Transference on him. He was confused, and mistook me for Ballas, or at least, someone like Ballas—just trying to… to use him, and deny him his own free will.”</p><p>“Oh dear. You mean to say that by attacking you, he was acting in self-defense?”</p><p>That was one way to put it, although she doubted that the former Dax retained any concept of fear. Umbra had been fixated on a single purpose, but unfortunately for him, Ballas was too clever a man to be bested by one of his own failed experiments.</p><p>What a wretched existence.</p><p>“What I don't understand is why he, um, did... t-that, to you....” The Cephalon trailed off, evidently unwilling to put her rape into so few words.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she admitted softly. “I don’t think he knows, either. Maybe he just wanted to be in control for a change. The Umbra that came out of your Foundry was a… a shell of what was once a good man. I saw it. All sense of reason was driven out after what Ballas put him through. He lost everything... What remained was a hatred for all living beings. Everyone was his enemy.”</p><p>“I-I see… Despite that, he seems… significantly calmer now,” Ordis observed warily. “Is that your doing?”</p><p>She returned her attention to Umbra, who hadn’t budged an inch, waiting deferentially.</p><p>“There was a piece of the real him hidden deep down inside, locked away from Ballas and the Infestation. I found it, and guided his psyche out of the nightmare keeping him trapped all this time.”</p><p>“Then… The Operator is controlling him right now? No, that can’t be; I do not detect an active Transference signal.”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s controlling himself. And I intend to keep it that way.”</p><p>“Oh dear.” Ordis obviously didn’t like the sound of that. “I was hoping he’d become more like the other Warframes…”</p><p>“He’s different. But that’s okay.” Her next words were directed at Umbra, who lifted his head to meet her red-rimmed eyes.</p><p>“You and I are now one,” she stated authoritatively. The Warframe watched her in silence, and she was certain it could understand her words even without using Transference. “You’re not alone anymore. From here on, we fight together.”</p><p>“Operator, are you really sure about this? I mean, a-after what he’s done to you—!”</p><p>“Ordis.” There was an undertone of steel in her voice, a warning that the matter was not up for debate. Truthfully, she’d prefer not to dwell too much on the ordeal itself. “He didn’t mean it. There’s no undoing the past… so let’s try to shape the future instead.” She faltered, expression pinching tight. “But I’m… I am sorry, Ordis, for having let any of this happen.”</p><p>“Please do not apologize for anything, Operator… I don’t think my central processor can take it.”</p><p>The arm she’d been propping herself up with was unable to bear her weight anymore, and she let herself fall back with a dull thump, completely drained. It felt like she’d been run over by a stampede of MOA. More pressingly, all throughout the entire arduous process of their spiritual reconciliation Umbra’s manhood had remained wedged inside of her, and with her legs behaving more like leaden weights than actual limbs, she couldn’t hope to do much about it on her own.</p><p>There was still one final test that had to be done. Two birds with one stone, then.</p><p>“Okay… let’s give this a try.”</p><p>Laying a hand on his bicep, and not without a little apprehension, she initiated Transference between them.</p><p>Instead of being pulled into the Warframe’s memories, this time she established a total synaptic overlay with Umbra’s nervous system, gaining access to the full range of his faculties. Completely blindsiding her was the discovery of a fundamental difference between Umbra and any other Warframe she knew of, in that despite her mind having fully transferred into him, his consciousness continued to persist alongside hers. A spectator in his own body, Umbra was very much still there—seeing, hearing, feeling, thinking, able to perceive everything as usual even while Transference rendered his body completely under her control. Their individual awarenesses were blended together seamlessly, and the unexpected presence of thoughts that could not be her own was stunning—a sentiment reciprocated by Umbra.</p><p>Ordis chimed in, ecstatic. “Operator, you did it! Your Transference signal is clean, synchronized with that Warframe!”</p><p>Although she recovered quickly from the shock, it was still so strange to have Umbra’s sophisticated cognition intertwined with her own. Unlike her, he did not think in words, but with images and impressions, some subtle and some overt, which were weighted and colored by his sentiments. The man’s mind was a borderline mechanical thing, direct and analytical, with none of the messiness she’d expect to find in a normal human. Or perhaps that was the natural result of his former breeding and training as a Dax soldier; taught to cut to the heart of every situation, to follow orders, and to carry out assigned directives with great efficiency.</p><p>No longer stuck in a miasma of blind rage, Umbra was seeing clearly for the first time, his senses sharp and unhindered by the uncontrollable whirlwind of his emotions. Looking down at her limp form she saw herself from Umbra’s perspective: damaged, disheveled—and impossibly beautiful. Any intention she once held of extricating herself promptly flew out the window, because the sensory feedback was unlike anything she’d experienced before.</p><p>“Oh!” She uttered, her voice pitched with interest. It felt… it felt so good! The tight fluttering pressure around Umbra’s penis was incredible! “Ohh, oh!”</p><p>“Operator? What is it?”</p><p>Before now, the most consideration she’d given to the idea of what it must be like to have male genitalia was that the extra bit of flesh between one’s legs must really get in the way at times. That presumption was quickly undergoing a revision in light of recent events—evidently there were certain upsides she’d never accounted for.</p><p>As if in a dream, she reached down with Umbra’s charcoal-grey hands to grab hold of her own clothed hips. Instead of pulling out, she pushed deeper, sinking all the way in until her buttocks rested in the curve of his lap. The unbelievable softness that was her vagina surrounding his entire length down to the root nearly defied description. She was unable to resist the urge to buck into that tight heat again, and yet again, the warm flesh giving way more easily with each intensely rewarding thrust.</p><p>“Operator, no! What are you doing to yourself?!”</p><p>Ordis’s dismay went ignored by the teen, too captivated by the extraordinary new feeling. In a Warframe’s superhumanly powerful hands her delicate form weighed next to nothing, effortlessly manipulated however she pleased. It was such a wondrous reversal and a welcome escape from the nagging soreness that had become her world. Not caring to be gentle, she rutted into herself gracelessly and with little regard as she chased doggedly after the heretofore unknown pleasure.</p><p>No one could understand—not Ordis, and not even herself from five minutes ago—just how addicting this was, how fascinating. She didn’t want to stop, almost couldn’t stop even if she tried.</p><p>She needed this.</p><p>Surprise bled over from Umbra’s half of their connection, accompanied by a palpable undercurrent of concern. His systems identified the Operator as an ally—a VIP subject to be protected at all costs, and he was averse to subjecting her to further harm. Against his better judgement however, and in spite of the qualms he clearly held towards potentially worsening her injuries, the unforeseen willingness on her part paired with such enthusiastic eagerness had, nevertheless, rekindled his arousal.</p><p>He too wished to continue.</p><p>The thought reached her as clearly as if he’d spoken out loud. Matched in their desires, there was no reason to not continue indulging in these new sensations, and thus galvanized she continued to vigorously plough him into her lax and unresisting form, delighting in the way her silken passage flexed around his sensitive member. That part of her body was so <em> soft </em>, but also so tight; a malleable, bewitching tract of corrugated flesh that seemed to caress every rippling inch of cock spreading her depths wide. Encouraging her further were the crude sounds created by their motions, which held a strange but undeniable appeal.</p><p>In truth she only barely knew what she was doing, relying mostly on some deep-rooted primal instinct to guide her efforts along with the degree of muscle-memory still dwelling in Umbra’s unconscious. As new as this was to her, it was a first for Umbra as well, having never experienced intimacy or sexual activity of any kind after his transformation into a Warframe, but his body still remembered this ancient, essential dance.</p><p>Awareness of her own faculties faded, hardly even registering as background noise on the fringes of her consciousness. Sprawled out on the ship floor, her head lolled back and her sunny hair fanned out like a halo. Her eyes, completely unfocused beneath fluttering lids, stared out hazily at nothing in particular. With her own sense of self dimmed by her focus on Umbra, she could almost forget how exhausted her real body was.</p><p>Immersed in Umbra’s inhuman sensorium, she was enchanted by her own youthful vibrance; lusted after it. She couldn’t get over how tantalizing her body was, how pliable and yielding; couldn’t believe how right it felt to be inside of her. These impressions belonged to Umbra, not to her, but in their shared connection it was difficult to separate the two. The half of their mind that belonged to him positively drank in the sight of her mussed hair, florid cheeks and dazed expression, drawn like a moth to a flame by her angelic loveliness. When she shifted her focus marginally back to her own senses and looked upon him, she could say honestly that she felt much the same. He was a beautiful Warframe.</p><p>During the interim earlier, after their psychic inverse tug-of-war and subsequent reconciliation, his penis had lost much of its rigidity, but this fresh onrush of stimulation was causing a rapid resurgence. She could feel the blood surging through Umbra’s veins, feel his quickened pulse, hot and excited. Groping with his large fingers at the clothed flesh of her ass, she pinned her own lax body in place, letting her inner muscles work over his sensitive flesh to send a continual current of heat and pleasure flowing through him.</p><p>“Auuuugh… uhnn... ahh...”</p><p>Indulging by proxy in the sweetness of her own body, the teen quietly gasped through parted pink lips, absent-mindedly hearing her voice with two different sets of ears, one vivid and acute, the other sounding miles away. Watching his thick, smoky shaft cleaving through her supple entrance was nothing short of hypnotic. Her vaginal walls were so tight, yet they opened so easily for him as she pumped him in and out. Both Operator and Warframe were transfixed by the sight of his cock repeatedly disappearing into those shiny pink folds, swallowed up only to reemerge and then do it all again.</p><p>Draped limply over Umbra’s armored thighs, her knees bounced in tandem with the motion of his pelvis, toes pointed to the ceiling. Through their shared mental connection, Umbra's pleasure was steadily bleeding over into her, pooling around the spot where a male organ would be if she had one. Her own genitals were plumping with secondhand arousal, the increasingly rosy coloration contrasting with her naturally pale skin.</p><p>Umbra’s senses were dozens of times sharper than those of an ordinary human. His superior visual senses didn’t miss the way her nipples had tightened into nubby peaks atop the modest swells of her breasts, compressed beneath the thick material of her suit. Somehow the sight of it caused his maleness to grow even harder, beginning to throb with excitement and a burning need she couldn’t put into words. Burying himself in between her spread legs brought momentary relief from that peculiar throbbing ache, but it was short lived. The need to keep moving only grew more urgent, every inward thrust and successive withdrawal representing two halves of an irresistible cycle of carnal desire. The intoxicating scent of her sweat and her sex permeated the recycled air of the Orbiter’s interior, and she could clearly feel his strong desire to taste the place between her legs. She didn’t bother to consider how odd that was, nor wonder how a Warframe could manage to taste anything at all.</p><p>Several minutes of mindless jackrabbiting later, she took notice of an increasing tension building within Umbra’s loins. It had been her assumption that he was already fully erect and had become so after their first dozen synergistic thrusts, but that was quickly proving to not be the case. The entire length of his reproductive organ was swelling further, skin pulling taut, and their union was becoming a tighter fit than before.</p><p>Warframes were indefatigable, their stamina limitless, but from the more deep-seated recesses of Umbra’s memory came the vague notion that something very wonderful was awaiting them at the end of this act. With Umbra’s body she curved over herself and held her smaller form closer, making his motions more forceful but less coordinated, thrusting erratically in a mad rush to reach the finish line, whatever that entailed.</p><p>Then, a small interruption in their connection: static in the link. Umbra was resisting her control again, and for a moment she automatically fought back, thoroughly enthralled and unwilling to let go of the deliriously pleasurable sensations. But Umbra persisted, sending nudges through their mental bond, and after another moment she acceded control back over to him, quietly groaning with disappointed confusion.</p><p>Now able to act independently, Umbra adjusted their position a little, sitting upright and lifting her hips along with him. The new angle applied more pressure to the upper wall of her vagina, and opened up enough space between their bodies for his hand to migrate to the front of her pelvis, thumb finding her clitoris. The teenager was too weakened to do more than lay there and watch, clueless as to his intentions, and at first all she felt was mild discomfort at the contact with her battered vulva. But then his thumb began rubbing small circles into her tender nub, gently manipulating it in time with the rocking of his hips. Her blue eyes went wide before squeezing tightly shut again, and she wailed as he introduced her to a pleasure that was uniquely her own.</p><p>“Ahh! Nnnah! Uh-Umbra…! Hnnn!”</p><p>She clung to his powerful upper arms with both hands, bracing herself as Umbra’s girth rubbed her insides with tightly controlled precision, his blunt cockhead grinding against a certain spot near her belly that made her jaw fall open in a silent cry. The dual stimulation with her clitoris was almost unbearable; she couldn’t even close her mouth, panting vocally, head shaking from side to side.</p><p>As it turned out, this sort of thing <em> could </em> feel good after all.</p><p>It still hurt quite a bit, of course. Umbra’s fully adult body was much too large to fit comfortably with her own still developing one, his manhood so big she could barely handle it. Every thrust bottomed out completely, and the bulging ridges all down his length could not possibly be gentle no matter how he tried. There was still a part of her that wished to retreat from the pain, to tune out completely by taking refuge again in Umbra’s comparatively more pleasant senses. But as he continued to expertly coax out a pleasure that outweighed the pain, her own need clouded her mind past the point of caring.</p><p>It was a demonstration of a finesse that she likely wasn’t capable of replicating, but Umbra’s intent was clear. He kept this up for another moment or two, playing her like an instrument, until there came a faint tug on the edge of her consciousness, followed by another shortly after, and she realized it was him inviting her to reassume control. Eagerly she accepted the offer, reestablishing a link with the Warframe’s psyche, where she was greeted again with the heavenly softness that was her own warm, clenching pussy wrapped perfectly tight around his dick, now slippery with fresh liquid arousal.</p><p>Greedily picking up where he left off, she drove into her enticing body with renewed vigor, and endeavored to reproduce the supplementary technique Umbra had just displayed. Thanks to the increased lubrication it was effortless to glide his thumb up and down her clit, making it increasingly slick and puffy. Each pass over the sensitive bead induced an involuntary contraction in her pelvic muscles, causing the straining velvety walls to clench down even tighter around his ribbed shaft.</p><p>Yet sure enough, no matter how she tried to emulate his prior actions, the result was a pale imitation of Umbra’s much more refined movements. Unversed as she was in sex, and now besieged on two fronts by the amplified pleasure of her individual sensorium coinciding with his, the intensity left her unable to exhibit the same degree of dexterity and poise. Even so she did not think to abandon her efforts, because she’d quite clearly heard Umbra’s wordless request to use him in such a way where he was not solely taking his own pleasure; that there be equal reciprocation with both of them giving and receiving in unison.</p><p>The result was that their coupling evolved into something less frantic, more thoughtful. All the control belonged to the Operator; Umbra’s body functioning as a mere extension of her own, moving in accordance with her will, while his unspoken wishes influenced her actions. Rather than ravaging her body as she had earlier, she instead ravished it, rolling his hips methodically in measured, even strokes, relentlessly targeting that place inside of her that brought overstimulated tears to her eyes.</p><p>“U-Umbra, I—Nnnh!”</p><p>Her voice had taken on a euphonious quality that sounded foreign to her ears but was like music to him, every little cry fueling his desire for more of her. Whatever event horizon Umbra had been nearing before his temporary reclamation of control, it seemed more distant now as if he’d somehow reigned it back in. The drive and desperation had taken a back seat, and all she felt from Umbra now was a possessive, ravenous, bottomless desire directed towards her. Through their melded thoughts she could hear that in this moment he was willing to give her anything she asked for.</p><p>His pulse was beating inside of her, warm and alive. Alive, just like she was, despite that Umbra had been dead and reduced to mere fragments when she first found him. Only because he was a Warframe, immortal and divine, was she able to reconstruct his body and bring him back to life. And because she was a Tenno, Voidtouched and profane, they were able to connect as no other two people could, resonating together.</p><p>She already had him, but she <em> wanted </em> him, more than she’d ever wanted anything.</p><p>Umbra's pleasure layered her own, and their combined lust was a heady thing. The Operator was more touch-starved than she’d ever realized. This union between Umbra’s body and hers—the intimate contact with another living person—was a liberation from the cold, quiet stillness that was her life in the Somatic Link. Their coupling evoked a sense of wholeness—a completeness that she never knew she needed. And it promised to become addictive.</p><p>Something was building, swelling, inside her, inside him. The teen felt her control slipping, no longer quite in his body or even in hers. But it didn’t matter; by some combined force of their wills Umbra’s body moved even in the times when she faltered, his thumb continuing to rub her clit while pistoning into her at that perfect angle.</p><p>Whimpers spilled endlessly from her lips, and from Umbra came harsh breaths over a gravelly, alien purr. She didn’t even spare a thought to stifling their noises, letting the sounds come naturally as they would. Their pleasure entwined; his ricocheting back into her, each echo magnifying the experience further until she thought she might go crazy from it. Pheromones swirled in the air around them; she was sweating faster than her damaged Transference suit could absorb, and the warm fabric was faintly damp beneath the tactile sensors on his palms. A pink tint had spread across her normally fair skin, the flush of her cheeks extending down to her neck and disappearing below the high rise of her suit’s collar.</p><p>The tension coiling in their loins suddenly hit a critical point, and Umbra’s previously flawless cadence stuttered as his testes drew up close to his body. Tipping over that perilous edge at last, she reflexively crushed their hips flush together just in time for his climax to crash into them with the force of an Eidolon’s Star Fall. So keenly did their pleasure spike that for a moment the signals in her brain became scrambled, the entire world narrowing down to the overpowering pleasure surging through Umbra and into her. Absolute centuries of pent-up grief and fury poured out of him in what seemed like an endless ejaculation, until all that remained was a blessedly numbing inner peace, the relief of which was indescribable.</p><p>Only after he started coming down from his peak was she able to realize that her body was already midway through an intense orgasm of its own. A shriek got stuck in her throat as she spasmed beneath him, her whole vagina clenching like a fist around the full length of Umbra’s still turgid cock. Electric jolts shot up and down through her erect and twitching clitoris, while waves of pleasure began radiating outward from her womb to suffuse the muscles of her pelvis and torso with a relaxed warmth. Even in her weakened state she thrashed and twisted uncontrollably, bucking in the Warframe’s hold, barely able to think. The overlap of their dual ecstasies was total sensory overload, and somewhere in the back of her mind where reason still existed she worried that despite being outside of the Somatic Link, this would induce an actual Transference overload and damage poor Ordis again.</p><p>But thankfully the euphoric sensation eventually dialed down, and sanity returned. Her pulse which had been moving at double-time gradually began to slow and quiet, the thudding in her chest matched in tempo by another close by. A Warframe’s heartbeat. She focused on the sound, marveling at it. Even after working with them as long as she had, it was something she’d never noticed before this very moment. She and Umbra were in sync with each other, harmonized.</p><p>For a time they stayed like that, waiting for the aftershocks to subside. Their respective orgasms had been completely different, but no less enervating. When the sweat started cooling on her skin, the teen had Umbra pull away, and reluctantly ended their connection, becoming herself again. The sudden absence of the secondary presence in her head left her feeling strangely bereft.</p><p>“...Operator?”</p><p>“I... don't think I can walk.” Her voice was hoarse. The adrenaline from earlier was quickly wearing off, replaced with an all-encompassing weariness and a bone deep ache. It was tempting to simply succumb to her torpor and pass out into sweet oblivion on the spot, but she knew that wasn’t an option. Now that the arousal was fading, her genitals prickled and burned unpleasantly. She struggled to prop herself up on her elbows and winced at what was certainly some internal bruising, and the sight of rusty smears of half-dried blood daubing her inner thighs; a mix of both of theirs. The bones of her legs felt jellified, useless.</p><p>She was a wreck.</p><p>“Yeah, walking’s not happening right now. Or for a while. Oww.” Her whole body hurt, inside and out, but considering the devastation that Warframes were capable of dealing, this was nothing. Still, serious or not, her injuries needed tending to. No matter how badly she wanted to clean herself and wash away the byproducts of their coupling, healing would have to come first.</p><p>This sensible line of thinking was nearly completely derailed when, quite unexpectedly and with the utmost care, Umbra took her into his arms and held her like she was the most precious thing in the universe.</p><p>“U-Umbra…?” She blinked in astonishment as he gently pressed his cheek on the crown of her head, being mindful not to let any gilded edges hurt her. After another moment he let her go, but remained kneeling, awaiting commands. It was easy to recognize his deep desire to serve her, to be of further use to her.</p><p>Well, she had at least one idea for that.</p><p>“Bring me to the infirmary.”</p><p>Obediently, Umbra scooped her up in both arms bridal-style and rose to his feet. She tried and failed to bite back a cry of pain as the movement jostled her legs and the tender bits between. Using just the slightest hint of Transference, she mentally directed him to their destination. When Umbra reached the Infested growth-clotted aperture and found he could go no further, he paused, and the Operator let out a tired sigh.</p><p>“Helminth, open this door before I break it down and burn every last trace of you to space dust.”</p><p>Without delay, the circular door’s quad partitions separated to permit entry.</p><p>Still Umbra hesitated, and she could sense his figurative hackles rising. “It’s okay,” she murmured softly, projecting a sense of calm through their connection, urging him not to attack. “That’s just Helminth. It’s one of us, sort of. Just ignore it.”</p><p>For a moment she wasn’t sure if Umbra would comply, but to her immense relief he promptly strode through the doors and into the dimly lit room, straight past the Infested chair whose grey, articulated tendrils clicked and shifted with wary uncertainty.</p><p>Ignoring the strain it put on her abused back, the Operator fumbled blindly with one arm until she managed to locate the correct button on the side of the medical bed to open up its glass hatch, and Umbra bent low to carefully deposit her onto the padded surface. Gasping quietly as she lay down, the curvature of the seat elevating her feet above her heart, she quickly relaxed and settled in. With how long she tended to sit in her Somatic Link every day, this change of position was quite welcome. She exhaled gratefully, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she was back to normal.</p><p>Helminth’s wispy voice echoed between her ears as the supernatural being spoke directly into her mind.</p><p><em>(The Void Demon appears weakened.</em>)</p><p>Her expression twitched in annoyed suspicion, and she glanced towards the center of the room with narrowed eyes. “I’ve had a long day,” she replied out loud. “You’ll have to put up with me while I use the recovery chamber for a bit. Afterwards you’ll have this place to yourself again.”</p><p><em>(We serve the Master, and the Master serves the Demon. If an order is given, then we shall render aid.</em>)</p><p>The mutant offshoot of the ancient Infestation was already responsible for the atmospheric and water filtration systems on her ship, sustaining an assortment of plant and marine life from which most of her food and medicines were derived. Perhaps more importantly, it also provided the means to repair or recreate Warframes in Ordis’s Arsenal and Foundry. But it seemed like the enigmatic hivemind was offering more than just that. She didn’t have the energy to wonder exactly what.</p><p>“I just need to rest for a few hours, that’s all. But thanks.”</p><p>Perhaps concluding that she no longer needed him, Umbra took a step back over the murky aquarium floor as if to exit the Infirmary. Quickly, she made to stop him.</p><p>“Hey. Don’t tell me you’re going to go run off again?” Voice deadly serious, she gave him an accusatory scowl from her supine position on the bed. “No. Stay here with me while I sleep. I don’t blame you for what happened, but you still need to take responsibility.” Absolutely, she would never forgive this Warframe if he made her chase after him all across the Origin System a second time. Thankfully however, he seemed to actually listen, quietly drawing nearer.</p><p>Her eyelids were already growing heavy, and it was getting increasingly harder to form words. “Later on we… we’ll get you repaired in the Arsenal. Don’t do anything to hurt the Infestation that’s growing in here. We’d be in real… real trouble without Helminth…”</p><p>Once certain that the Warframe wasn’t going anywhere, she pressed a button on the inside of the capsule to shut the hatch and seal her inside. A gentle hissing sound signaled that the machine was getting to work, filling the enclosed space with a pungent healing vapor. This was the first time she’d ever used a recovery chamber since awakening on Lua, and it was reassuring to find that it was still functioning.</p><p>Looking out through the transparent glass at Umbra, she saw that he had knelt down beside the bed and was watching over her with unflagging attention.</p><p>“See you in a bit,” she murmured fuzzily, before sleep finally claimed her.</p><p>*****</p><p>**********</p><p>*****</p><p>“Operator? How do you feel?”</p><p>Blearily, she opened her eyes to see that the lid over the medical bed was raised, meaning the mending of her injuries had completed. Everything in the room looked the same as before; Helminth’s claw-like arms bobbed with interest as the words <em>(The Demon awakens</em>) floated through her head, and Umbra was still kneeling nearby, silent as a statue.</p><p>“Operator?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” she answered, perhaps a little too curtly. Ordis was genuinely concerned about her, and for good reason. She cleared her throat and pushed herself up into a sitting position, letting her legs hang outside of the cylindrical enclosure. “I’m all healed up. Nothing hurts anymore.”</p><p>“Oh, thank <em> goodness</em>,” Ordis gushed. “You don’t know how worried I was, oh, it felt like you were asleep for <em> ages</em>, and I was becoming terribly afraid that you might <em> never </em> wake up!”</p><p>“Well,” she cut him off, seeing that the conversation was going nowhere fast. “I’m up now.” The chamber did good work, just like she remembered. It was technology developed specifically for the Tenno, once it became apparent that even Lorists, who could heal any sickness or injury with their touch alone, were at risk of exposure to the Void energy constantly emitting from every Tenno like radiation off a star. Their Orokin masters couldn’t risk losing such valuable healers, dearly few in number that they were, and so saw fit to invest in something less organic, more portable, and easier to replace. Ultimately, this pragmatic decision worked to her favor, since even after abandoning the Empire and undergoing centuries of cryosleep, the technology was still operational and in her possession, while on the other hand she hadn’t even heard of a single Lorist still alive.</p><p>“I’m going to need a new set of clothes, and I still want to get cleaned up.” There was no trace left of the cut on her wrist, but the dried blood remained, and was crusty and itchy where it had soaked into her sleeve. Undoubtedly this Transference suit was now useless, and she’d have to default to using her old Zariman uniform until she forked over the Platinum for something nicer.</p><p>Sounding delighted at finally being able to assist her directly, Ordis chirped, “Say no more! Ordis is preparing a hydro-cleansing session as we speak! It’ll be ready by the time you get there, Operator, you can count on it!”</p><p>“Great.” Shaking off the remnants of sleep, she tentatively stood, keeping one hand on the side of the machine in case she were to suddenly lose balance. Umbra remained on the glass floor, but was clearly following her movements like a hawk. She tried not to feel flustered by the fact that her suit still had an obvious hole at the crotch area, leaving her genitals on full display. Granted, he’d already gotten a good look at her earlier, so this was hardly any worse, but… she couldn’t renounce modesty so easily.</p><p>“Umbra, I’m... glad you’re still here.”</p><p>Naturally, the Warframe said nothing back, but she knew he was listening. She tilted her head at him, considering her next move. “Waiting for me must have been pretty boring. But believe me, you’ll learn to appreciate the quiet moments soon enough. The System is a dangerous place these days. You and I have a lot of work to do.”</p><p>Catching her completely off-guard, the Warframe rose to his feet and swooped her up into his plated arms much like the night before.</p><p>“H-hey! What are you—!” She resisted for only a moment before giving up, slumping against his chest with an exasperated sigh. The powerful heat that he’d given off when they first met had diminished; now he felt perfectly normal, at least far as Warframes were concerned. “I can walk by myself, you know,” she informed him pointly in a sulky grumble. Despite the admonishment, she still hooked one arm around his neck for stability, and felt the faint beating of his heart against her cheek, much slower now than her own.</p><p>As they exited the infirmary, something caught her eye that she hadn’t noticed the first time heading in. On the floor near the corner of the hallway towards Navigation lay an outstretched, gilded hand that could only belong to Frost.</p><p>“Wait, hang on,” she said, pointing to the strange finding. “Take me this way first.”</p><p>Dutifully, Umbra complied, heading up the ramp into the center of the ship. There they found not just Frost, but also Loki, Trinity, Limbo, and Rhino all sprawled out in a disorderly fashion just outside of the Arsenal. A chill ran up the Operator’s spine at the bizarre sight.</p><p>“Oh dear, yes, about that…”</p><p>Her mouth felt very dry. “Ordis, what is all this? How did this happen, why are they out here?”</p><p>“I… cannot quite explain, Operator,” the Cephalon replied contritely. “As you can see, several of your Warframes came out of the Arsenal of their own volition, back when… um, during your conflict. With Umbra.”</p><p>“They came out…?” she repeated in a near-whisper, unable to look away. Ordis was clearly telling the truth; she could see by the way the Warfarmes had all fallen with their feet closest to the Arsenal segment.</p><p>“I do apologize that your equipment has been left in such a terribly undignified state for so long, but I’m afraid I was not able to retrieve them on my own. Please forgive me.”</p><p>
  <em> Don’t cry. Don’t cry, damn it. </em>
</p><p>But despite her best efforts, the sight of her most-used Warframes lying prone on the floor of the Orbiter caused something to crack within her, and her eyes flooded with hot tears. Biting down on her lip wasn’t enough to stop the wretched sob that escaped her throat.</p><p>It was too much.</p><p>“Operator! Operator, oh no, please, <em> please </em> don’t cry! You-you’re going to make <em> me </em> cry too, if you do!”</p><p>Laughing in between quavering wails, the Operator turned to wrap her other arm around Umbra’s neck, burying her face in his scarf and trying unsuccessfully to swallow down her emotions. Perhaps responding to the gesture, the Warframe hummed a soothing, tuneless sound deep in his throat and cradled her more tightly to his chest, hard enough to make her bones creak.</p><p>It was all just too much.</p><p>The dam she had erected in her heart which had held so strong up until then—throughout the loneliness and desolation of being forsaken by her mother-figure, and the shock and terror of being assailed by the very entity that was supposed to serve her—finally crumbled under the revelation that the affinity she felt towards certain Warframes was apparently not so one-sided after all...</p><p>It really was just far too much.</p><p>For so long now she’d been trying her best to stay on track and keep doing what was expected of her, all while resolutely ignoring the many warning signs that life as she knew it was irrevocably unraveling at the seams. But now, she finally understood that things would never go back to the way they were. Maybe that was what it meant to be an adult at last; that she had to stand on her own.</p><p>But adult or not, cradled protectively in the arms of her Warframe, she let herself bawl like the child she hadn’t been in a very long time.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for taking the time to read. This was the most difficult thing I’ve ever written, and all in all, it took me over a year to complete. Future chapters are in the works, including smut, light-hearted adventure, and more angst. We still have to find Ballas and the Lotus, after all, don’t we?</p><p>If you enjoyed this story, please leave me your thoughts in the comments below, it would really make my day!<br/>Take care, cuties!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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